Pit board with quick release clamps



A. P. ROGERS ETAL 3,188,085 PIT BOARD WITH QUICK RELEASE '.CLAMPS Jung 8, 1965 2v Sheeits-Sheet l Filed March A5 1962 A. P. ROGERS ETAL PIT BOARD WITH QUICK RELEASE CLAMPS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 8, 1965 Filed March 5. 1962 @im I 3,138,635 PIT EGARD lli/1TH QUECK RELEASE @LAMPS Albert I. Rogers, Spring Lake, and Ernest E. Emery, Muskegon Heights, Mich., assignors to Brunswick Corporation Filed Man-'5, 1962, Ser. No. 177,615 3 Ciaims. (til. 27a-d) This invention relates to a pit iioor device for a bowling alley and more particularly to a quick release clamp for holding and releasing the pit board relative to a supporting framework.

Presently, the pit board in a bowling alley pit is attached in Ia semi-permanent manner, generally using screws o-r bolts. This manner of attaching gives a rigid construction, however when maintenance becomes necessary on the pit board or on mechanisms under `the pit board, removal of the board is difficult and time consuming. Also, in newer alley constructions there is a limited amount of space around the pit area and access to the pit board holding means is sometimes difficult.

It is therefore an object of the present invention toY provide a mechanism including `an easily accessible and manually operable quick release clamp which firmly holds the pit board to a supporting frame mechanism in a bowling alley pit.

A further object of they present invention is to provide a quick-acting clamp means for firmly holding a pit board to a supporting frame mechanism in a bowling alley pit where said clamp i-s positioned so as to be protected from damage from bowling pins and bowling balls and conversely cannot damage balls or pins.

Other objects and advantages will become readily apparent in the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a broken plan view of a bowling alley pit taken to include the end of the alley bed and the bowling pin elevator of an automatic pinsetter;

FIGURE 2 is .a vertical section of said bowling alley pit taken in the direction of the .arrows of line 2--2 of FIGURE 1 with the clamp shown in elevation;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary side elevation of the quick release clamp and associated mechanism with the clamp v shown in a released or unclamped position;

of the arrows along line 5-5 of FIGURE 2 with parts in .Y

section.

While an illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings and will be described in detail herein, the invention is susceptible of embodiment in many rdifferent forms, and it should be understood that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplication of .the principles of the invention and is not intended t0 limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring .to the drawings, the bowling alley pit mechanism is shown in association with a bowling alley in FIGURES l .and 2. The bowling alley has a pair of spaced apart kickbacks 11 and 11a defining the sides of a pit with the front of the pit defined by the tail plank `12 of an alley. The rear of the pit has a pin elevator 13 of an automatic pinsetter located to receive and elevate pins from the pit.

The bowling alley pit mechanism embodies'a frame 1t.

suitably .secured as by bolts to the bottom surface of the pit and having a vibratory framework 1S, which mounts a pit board 16. This pit board is held along the rear United States Patent O ICC edge yof the vibratory frame by a retaining clip 17 and at the front by a pair of quick-release clamps 18. These clamps are provided to enable quick release of the` pit board from its framework for access to the mechanism beneath thev pit boa-rd or for repair or replacement of the board. As will be seen from FIGURES 1 and 2, the clamp `mechanisms rare located in the spaces provided between the edges of the pit board 16 and the kickbacks 11 'and 111g. and at a level beneath the surface of the pit board :16 in order to avoid contact with a ball or pins in the pit.

The vibratory frame 15 is vibrated from an eccentric 19 through .a link 2d and as is seen in the drawings, the pit board y16 is transversely concave and slopes downwardly at its center toward a pin elevator 1'3.

The pit clamps 18 operate as best shown with respect to one of the clamps in FIGURES 2 and 3, to clamp the forward edge of the pit oor board 16 to the frame mechanism 15. This clamp is composed of an elongated actuating member or arm 21 with a handle 22 at the rear thereof. A pit board holdin-g member 23 is firmly fixed t-o and carries pin 24. An aperture 25 in arm 21 receives the pin 24 and thus the pin connects the holding member 23 and the actuating arm 21. The holding member 23 is pivotally mounted to a tube forming part of frame 15 by a pin 34 as shown in FIGURE 4. Also attached to actuating arm 21 is a U-shaped downwardly depending member 26 with a notch 27 therein. This notch 27 cooperates with .a collar 33 movably mounted on spring guide rod 28 which is pivotally mounted to frame 15 as indicated `at 2.9. A spring Sti surrounds spring guide rod 28 and engages a biasing washer 3d to maintain pins 32 formed on the collar 33 in the notch 27.

In operation, the quick-acting clamp 18 functions in the following manner. A-s shown in FIGURE 2, the clamp ,18 is in its latched position and along with clip 2?` firmly holds pit board 16 to frame 1S. Spring 30 urges pins 32 against the downwardly depending member 26 and creates a force tending to hold clamp 1S in its latched or downward position. In this latched position, arm 21 of clamp 18 is below the surface of the pit board 16 and thus out of the way so as to not damage any bowling balls or bowling pins projected to the sides of the bowling alley pit or to be damaged thereby.

By grasping handle 22 manually and pulling upward thereupon, spring 30 is compressed along spring guide rod 2S, arm 21 moves upwardly arcuately about pivot 34 and the clamp is released to the position shown in FIGURE 3 with the holding member 23 no longer contacting the pit board 16. In this position the spring 20 and spring guide 23 support the actuating arm 21 through downwardly depending member 26 and thus hold the clamp in its unlatched or released position. With both clamps 18 released, the pit board 16 is now easily removed from the clip 23 and the frame 15. To latch the clamp again, it is necessary simply to exert a downward f-orce on handle 22. This force acting through handle 22 and downwardly depending member 26 will compress spring Si) and allow the holding member 23 to engage the pit board thus holding the pit board firmly relative to frame 15.

Thus, ,it has been shown and described how a pair of manually and easily operable quick-release clamps can be installed in a bowling alley pit mechanism to releasably latch the pit iioor board to the frame 15 and firmly hold the pit iioor board in position by the use of a spring-urged locking force.

We cla-im:

1. Mechanism for use in a bowling alley pit, said mechanisrn including a supporting frame and a pit board resting thereon, a quick release clamp for the pit board comprising: an arm pivotally mounted to said frame, a holding member at one end of said arm for contacting the pit board, a handle at the other end of the arm, a downwardly depending member afxed to the arm intermediate the two ends, and spring means to urge the holding member into conta-ct with the pit board, said spring means including a guide rod pivotally mounted to the frame and siidably mounted in the do,wnlwardly'depending member, anda spr-iiig'around vsaid guideto hold'said clampV locked when thearin is in 'a position below center and unlatched whenin a secondpositionabove'center,

V2. ypit"mechanisrrl `for abowling'alley pit,`said`me`ch anisn including a pit board resting 0n a frame, 4means on the frame Yforholding one edge of the pit board, a quickl release Jpit board ola'm'p for holding an opposite edge of Vthe pit 'boar-d comprising: an elongate member pivotally 'mounted to said frame, aholding'portion at `one end of said elongate member to contact said Dit board, 'a handle portionat'thc other endlthe'reef,andresilient means extended between the elongate member and said frame -to hold said clamp in its pit board clamping position.

3. The 'combination of a quick release clamp and a bowling alley pit mechanism having a fname and a pit board supported thereby, said clamp comprising: an elongate member having an aperture in one end thereof, a rod in said aperture, a pit board holding member aiixed to References Cited by the Examiner UNTED STATES PATENT 2,980,527 5/37' Bixei. 2,389,643 =11/45 Schmidt n 273-43 2,947,541 8/60 Came et al 273-51 X 2,949,300 8/60 Huck et' al. V273-43 OTHER REFERENCES Brunswick Automatic Pinse'tt'er Service yManual Revised, October 1957, page 13.

Brunswick Service'PartsV Catalog, Revision oflY/Iay 1961, pages 36-38. Y

DELBERT'B. LOWE, Primary, Examiner. 

2. A PIT MECHANISM FOR A BOWLING ALLEY PIT, SAID MECHANISM INCLUDING A PIT BOARD RESTING ON A FRAME, MEANS ON THE FRAME FOR HOLDING ONE EDGE OF THE PIT BOARD, A QUICK RELEASE PIT BOARD CLAMP FOR HOLDING AN OPPOSITE EDGE OF THE PIT BOARD COMPRISING: AN ELONGATE MEMBER PIVOTALLY MOUNTED TO SAID FRAME, A HOLDING PORTION AT ONE END OF SAID ELONGATE MEMBER TO CONTACT SAID PIT BOARD, A HANDLE PORTION AT THE OTHER END THEREOF, AND RESILIENT MEANS EXTENDED BETWEEN THE ELONGATE MEMBER AND SAID FRAME TO HOLD SAID CLAMP IN ITS PIT BOARD CLAMPING POSITION. 